EL PARAÍSO
A film by Enrico Maria Artale
Through salsa and merengue dance nights, shared memories, and limited earnings working for a local drug dealer, Julio Cesar and his mother struggle to maintain their love-filled but oppressive lifestyle. The arrival of Ines, an attractive young Colombian drug mule, threatens to unsettle their tenuous stability.
Best Actress, Screenplay & Young Cinema Award at Venice Orizzonti 2023.
Status: Completed
Year: 2023
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy
Language: Italian, Spanish
Available subtitles: English
Runtime: 106 minutes
Original title: El paraíso
Enrico Maria Artale (Rome, 1984) graduated in Film Aesthetics and Directing from the Italian National Film School (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia).
He has written and directed many international prize-winning shorts. His first feature-length film, “Il terzo tempo” (The Third Half), presented in 2013 at the 70th Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section, won the Pasinetti Prize for Best First Film awarded by the SNGCI (Italian National Union of Cinema Journalists).
In the following years, he directed two documentary series for Sky Arte and made the documentary film “Saro”, winner of the prize for best Italian documentary at the 34th Turin Film Festival, and subsequently nominated for a David di Donatello in 2018. At the same time, he started to work in TV series, such as “Sanctuary” and “Romulus”.
His latest film, “El paraíso”, will celebrate its World Premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival.
FILMOGRAPHY
2023 El paraíso (106′)
2016 Saro (69′)
2013 The Third Half (94′)
2011 My Bow Breathing (11′)
CAST
Edoardo Pesce
Margarita Rosa de Francisco
Maria del Rosario
Gabriel Montesi
CREW
Director: Enrico Maria Artale
Screenplay: Enrico Maria Artale
Cinematography: Francesco Di Giacomo
Editing: Valeria Sapienza
Sound: Luigi Cippone, Gianluca Scarlata
Executive Producers: Matteo Rovere, Andrea Paris, Carla Altieri, Roberto De Paolis
Production Company: Ascent Film, Young Films, Rai Cinema
2023
Venice International Film Festival | Orizzonti · Best Actress · Best Screenplay · Arca Young Cinema Award
An engrossing tale of Oedipal codependence set among Rome’s drug dealers, with brilliant performances.
Patricia Boero, The Film Veredict
Coming soon.